Many industries market products using threaded caps on containers. Therefore, it is desirable to have a system for determining the torque required to loosen a threaded cap from a container. This is desirable since the threaded caps are applied automatically and it is necessary to know that the threaded caps are being applied with sufficient force so that the contents are protected by a proper seal and also that the threaded caps may be loosened without requiring an excessive amount of force. One such system is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,463 issued to Smith et al. which uses a complicated system using pressurized air, pressure gauges and rams, gears and racks to determine the torque required to loosen a threaded cap from a container. Weckerly, U.S. Pat. No. 2,279,698, discloses a rather complicated system for measuring the mechanical strength of molded container caps and in one embodiment, to determine the permissible torque which may be applied to an assembled container and cap by the filling machine. However, Weckerly does not address the problems associated with determining the torque required to loosen a threaded cap from a container. Thus, there exists a need for a relatively simple and economic system for accurately determining the torque required to loosen a threaded cap on a container.